Property taken in police custody: PACE s.54

This page is about the custody desk after an arrest. Section 54(1) of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) says the custody officer at a police station shall ascertain everything which a person has with him when he is brought to the station after being arrested elsewhere or after being committed to custody by an order of sentence of a court, or is arrested at the station or detained there, as a person falling within section 34(7), under section 37 or as a person to whom section 46ZA(4) or (5) applies (s.54(1)). As enacted, s.54(1)(a) reads “brought to the station after being arrested elsewhere or after being committed to custody by an order or sentence of a court”; the revised text on legislation.gov.uk prints “order of sentence” (s.54(1)(a) as enacted). Section 54(2) says the custody officer may record or cause to be recorded all or any of the things which he ascertains under subsection (1).

Subject to subsection (4), a custody officer may seize and retain any such thing or cause any such thing to be seized and retained (s.54(3)).

PACE Code C para 4.2 says that, subject to paragraph 4.3A, detainees may retain clothing and personal effects at their own risk unless the custody officer considers they may use them to cause harm to themselves or others, interfere with evidence, damage property, effect an escape or they are needed as evidence; in this event the custody officer may withhold such articles as they consider necessary and must tell the detainee why (Code C).

Under s.54(4), clothes and personal effects may only be seized if the custody officer believes that the person from whom they are seized may use them to cause physical injury to himself or any other person, to damage property, to interfere with evidence, or to assist him to escape; or has reasonable grounds for believing that they may be evidence relating to an offence. The first limb is worded “believes”; the second is worded “has reasonable grounds for believing” (s.54(3) and (4)).

Where anything is seized, the person from whom it is seized shall be told the reason for the seizure unless he is violent or likely to become violent, or incapable of understanding what is said to him (s.54(5)). Code C para 4.5 says that if a detainee is not allowed to keep any article of clothing or personal effects, the reason must be recorded (Code C). Code C para 4.4 says it is a matter for the custody officer to determine whether a record should be made of the property a detained person has with him or had taken from him on arrest; whenever a record is made the detainee shall be allowed to check and sign the record of property as correct; and any refusal to sign shall be recorded (Code C).

Code C para 4.3 says personal effects are those items a detainee may lawfully need, use or refer to while in detention but do not include cash and other items of value (Code C). The provisions quoted on this page do not mention a phone, and this site has not sourced an authority on whether a phone is a “personal effect”. Neither s.54(4) nor Code C para 4.3, as quoted, names a mobile phone.

A person who is in custody at a police station or is in police detention otherwise than at a police station may at any time be searched in order to ascertain whether he has with him anything which he could use for any of the purposes specified in s.54(4)(a). Subject to s.54(6C), a constable may seize and retain, or cause to be seized and retained, anything found on such a search. A constable may only seize clothes and personal effects in the circumstances specified in s.54(4) (s.54(6A) to (6C)).

Section 22(1) to (4) are set out here as worded. Its subsection (1) says that, subject to subsection (4), anything which has been seized by a constable or taken away by a constable following a requirement made by virtue of section 19 or 20 may be retained so long as is necessary in all the circumstances (s.22(1)). Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), anything seized for the purposes of a criminal investigation may be retained, except as provided by subsection (4), for use as evidence at a trial for an offence, or for forensic examination or for investigation in connection with an offence; and anything may be retained in order to establish its lawful owner, where there are reasonable grounds for believing that it has been obtained in consequence of the commission of an offence (s.22(2)).

Nothing seized on the ground that it may be used to cause physical injury to any person, to damage property, to interfere with evidence, or to assist in escape from police detention or lawful custody may be retained when the person from whom it was seized is no longer in police detention or the custody of a court or is in the custody of a court but has been released on bail (s.22(3)). Nothing may be retained for either of the purposes mentioned in subsection (2)(a) if a photograph or copy would be sufficient for that purpose (s.22(4)). Section 22(5) says nothing in that section affects any power of a court to make an order under section 1 of the Police (Property) Act 1897 (s.22(5)). The quoted words of s.22(1) speak of things seized by a constable and things taken away following a section 19 or 20 requirement, and the quoted words of s.22(2) speak of anything seized for the purposes of a criminal investigation. Retention generally is covered on the retention and deletion page.

A constable who seizes anything in the exercise of a power conferred by any enactment, including an enactment contained in an Act passed after the 1984 Act, shall, if so requested by a person showing himself to be the occupier of premises on which it was seized, or to have had custody or control of it immediately before the seizure, provide that person with a record of what he seized (s.21(1)).

Section 59(10) of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 lists the relevant powers of seizure for the purposes of s.59: the powers of seizure conferred by sections 50 and 51; each of the powers of seizure specified in Parts 1 and 2 of Schedule 1; and any power of seizure (not falling within those) conferred on a constable by or under any enactment, including an enactment passed after that Act (s.59(10)). The quoted words do not name s.54. The s.59 application is covered on the seize and sift page.

Section 54(3), as quoted, is a power to seize and retain. As quoted, it says nothing about a passcode or about examining what is on a device. Section 49 notices are covered on the RIPA notice page, and compelled-unlock questions on rightsandlimits.com (link only). Seizure from premises and from an arrested person is covered on the seizure page.